MERCHANT bank Quayle Munro said it was below budget for the six months to December but still slightly ahead on figures posted a year ago.

The Edinburgh-based bank and corporate advisory firm said revenues totalled £5.3million compared with £5.2 million last year.

However last year's revenues included contributions from the groups US office which was closed in March,2010.

Pre-tax loss on ordinary activities after tax was £0.6 million compared with a profit of £3.7 million a year ago.

After one-off gains which included the sale last year of Submersible Technology Services for £3.5million, the company made a profit of £0.3m compared with a previous loss of £0.4m.

Quayle Munro advised on a number of large transactions last year, including Virgin Money's purchase of Church House Trust and a £100m cash injection for Virgin's banking arm from US billionaire Wilbur Ross put up to fund a failed bid to buy 318 branches from Royal Bank of Scotland.

Chairman Andrew Tuckey said the firms advisory business remains very busy and the pipeline of new business is strong, but said it would be difficult to predict the outcome of transactions and the timing of fees in the coming year.

He said it was most unlikely the firm would repeat the record 89 per cent rise in fees earned last year of £15.7 million.

Last September Quayle Munro announced anear 10-fold increase in pre-tax profits to £10.9million for the year to June 30.